AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE VIRUS OF FOWL-PEST

Abstract

The results obtained from our experiments on the susceptibility of pigeons to the virus of fowl-pest, and some observations on the infected animals are briefly summarized as follows:1. The transmission of the disease to pigeons was successful by feeding a large amount of the virus, instillation into conjunctival sac, application to the scarified skin, or by cloacal injection, but not by the co-habitation of pigeons with affected fowls or pigeons.2. The virus seems not to be equally distributed in the organs of the affected pigeons, its virulence being proved very high in brain, less in liver, kidney and spleen, the least in testicle and no trace of the virus in cornea.3. The susceptibility of the pigeon differs with the age, young and old pigeons being less susceptible while the one weighing about 300gr. most susceptible.4. The successive passages of the virus through the pigeon is possible, and the virus passed through pigeons is able to produce the disease in chickens.5. Our observations on the changes in the blood of the diseased pigeons showed that within 3 to 4 days before the appearance of symptoms the pseudo-eosinophilic leucocytes increased reaching more than 2-3 times the numbers in normal cases while the number of lymphocytes decreased.